Art of manufacturing boots and shoes



Feb. 18, 1930. w. c. BAXTER 1,747,282

ART OF MANUFACTURING BOOTS AND SHOES I Filed Oct. 4, 1927 Fig: 1

Patented Feb. 18, 1930 UNITED STATES hit-7,25%

PATENT orrica WILLIAM C. BAXTER, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS,

MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON,

JERSEY ASSIGNOR TO "UNITED SHOE NEXV JERSEY, A GORPORATION OF NEW ART OF MANUFACTURING BOOTS AND SHOES Application filed Getober 4, 1927.

This invention relates to methods of manufacturing boots and shoes and to parts for use in boots and shoes.

In the manufacture of shoes having Louis heels it is customary to form a flap on the manufacture of the shoe both the tread surface of the sole and the exposed surface of the flap become more or less stained from the handling to which the shoe is subjected. Tn order to clean these surfaces they are com- 5 monly subjected to a butiing operation.

Bufiing the surface of the sole is readily accomplished, but difficulties are encountered in buifing the surface of the flap because of its contour.

In order to do away with bufiing operations such as the flap-bufiing referred to above, which have hitherto been necessary, the present invention in one aspect comprises a method which consists in forming a thin leaf or flap on the surface of a piece of leather, subj ecting the piece to a manufacturing operation, and then removing the flap so as to leave a clean surface exposed. In the instance of the manufacture of shoes having Louis heels, two flaps are formed on the, heel end of the sole, a thin outer flap and a thicker inner flap. The inner flap is secured as usual to the breast of the Louis heel, and then the outer flap is torn off or otherwise removed to expose the clean surface of the inner flap. Thereafter the bottom of the sole may be cleaned by the usual bufing operation, but no such operation is necessary upon the exposed surface of the Louis heel flap.

In another aspect the invention comprises a sole having formed at its heel end two flaps, one designed to be attached to the breast of the heel of the shoe in which the sole is incorporated and the other adapted to be torn off after the shoe is otherwise substan tially finished.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a section of part of a splitting machine showing a sole in process of having a flap formed on its heel portion.

Serial No. azaaes.

' Fig. 2 is a similar section showing the formation of a second flap.

Fig. 3 is a perspective of theheel end of a shoe, without its heel, in which the sole has been incorporated; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective of the heel end of the same shoe after the heel has been attached and before the thin flap has been torn 0E.

The flaps above referred to may be formed upon the heel end of the sole in any suitable manner, for example, by the use of a splitting machine having a stationary knife 5, a Work supporting table 7 and a feed roll 9. The feed roll is preferably of rubber and may be oscillated by a segmental rack 11 which meshes with a gear 13 carried by the roll. With this construction a sole 100 may be placed upon the work table 7 and presented, heel end first, at the proper time to the oscillating roll which will first carry it to the left into the position shown in Fig. 1 to form a flap upon it and will then carry it to the right so that it may be removed from the machine. The table 7 is vertically adjustable by means of wedge members 15, 17 which may be moved relatively to each other by turning adjusting screws, one of which is shown at 19. By reason of this adjusting mechanism, the work table 7 may be set at any desired level so as to cause a flap of the desired thickness to be formed upon the sole. The machine, which has been briefly described, is substantially the same asthat disclosed in Letters Patent No. 1,260,436 granted March 26, 1918, upon an application filed in the name of OKeeffe except that the machine of the present application is provided with means for oscillating the roll.

The sole 100 shown in Fig. 1 has had formed upon its grain side a flap 200, the thickness of which is equal to the combined thickness of the two flaps which are finally to be formed. After the sole with this flap has been removed from the machine, the table 7 of the machine is adjusted upward into 9 the position shown inFig. 2, and the sole is then presented again to the machine to cause the flap 200 to be split in the manner shown. There are thus finally formed upon the heel end of the sole two flaps a comparatively thick flap 300, which has an outer surface of grain, and a very thin flap 400 which is all grain.

It is, of course, possible to produce the two flaps 300 and 400 by a different mode of operation of the machine, namely by feeding the sole first to the machine with the parts of the machine in the positions shown in Fig. 2 so as to produce first the flap 400, and then to present the sole to the machine with the parts of the machine in the positions shown in Fig. 1 to produce the flap 300. It has been found, however, that this latter method does not produce as good results as themethod in which a thick flap 200 is first formed and then split in the manner shown in Fig. 2. When the flap 400, which is extremely thin, is formed first, the cut surfaces on the flap and on the sole respectively, are both hard, smooth grain surfaces; and, when the sole with the thin flap formed upon it is presented to the machine the second time, these surfaces tend to slip upon each other with the result that the thin flap tends to be wrinkled and torn. In the method first described in which the thick flap 200 is formed first, the cut surfaces on the sole and on the flap respectively, are both flesh surfaces and there is little if any tendency for these surfaces to slip upon each other during the cutting of the thin flap 400 after the inanner shown in Fig. 2.

After the heel breast flap 300 and the protective flap 400 have been formed in any suitable manner, the sole is incorporated in a shoe in the usual manner. Fig. 3 shows the sole incorporated in a shoe with the heel end of the sole shaped to receive a wooden Louis heel. After this heel has been attached, the flap 300 is cemented to the breast of the heel. The shoe is now practically finished, but the bottom of the sole and the exposed surface of the thin flap 400 are usually somewhat stained and dirty from the handling to which the shoe has been subjected. In order that the bottom of the sole and the breast of the heel may present clean surfaces, the thin flap 400 is torn off and discarded, and the bottom of the sole is buffed. It is thus possible to obtain a clean surface upon the-leather which covers the breast of the heel of the shoe without the necessity, which has heretofore existed, of

'bufiing this curved surface.

It may happen that the flap 400 is in some cases so thin and flimsy that it will become wrinkled or displaced during the handling of the shoe and therefore not serve as a proper protective covering for the adjacent surface I of the flap 300. In such cases the flap 400 may be lightly attached near its outer end to the adjacent surface of the flap 300 by a very small amount of cement; and after the flap 400 has been tornoff, the small discoloration left by the cement may be buffed off by touchingthat locality to a buffing tool.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. That improvement in the art of leather manufacture which consists in forming a thin flap on one side of a piece of leather, subjecting the piece to a manufacturing operation and subsequently removing the flap to leave a clean surface of the piece exposed.

2. That improvement in the art of leather manufacture which consists in forming a thin flap of grain on the grain side of a piece of leather, subjecting the piece to a manufacturing operation, and subsequently removing the flap to leave a clean surface of the piece exposed.

3. That improvement in the art of manufacturing boots and shoes which comprises forming a thin flap of grain on the grain face of a sole, incorporating the sole in a shoe, and removing the flap.

4:. That improvement in the art of manufacturing boots and shoes which comprises providing the heel end of the sole with an outer grain flap and an inner flap, incorporating the sole in a shoe, securing the inner flap to the breast of the heel of the shoe, and removing the outer flap.

5. That improvement in the art of manufacturing boots and shoes which comprises forming two flaps on the grain side of the heel end of a sole, a thin outerflap and a thicker inner flap, incorporating the sole in a shoe having a Louis heel, securing the inner flap to the breast of the heel, and removing the outer flap.

6. The method of treating a sole which consists in forming at its heel end two superposed flaps, one consisting partly of flesh and partly of grain and adapted to be attached to the breast of the heel of the shoe in which the sole is incorporated and the other consisting ent-irely of grainand adapted to serve as'a protective covering for the first-named flap.

7. As an article of manufacture a sole having formed upon it a flap consisting partly of flesh and partly of grain and adapted to be attached to the breast of the heel of a shoe in which the sole isincorporated and a second flap consisting entirely of grain overlying the first flap and adapted to serve as a protective covering for the adjacent surface of the first flap during the incorporation of the sole in the shoe.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM C. BAXTER. 

